Ballard puts five players apiece on the 2023 All-RRC baseball and softball teams

The Ballard baseball and softball teams both had five players named All-Raccoon River Conference during the 2023 season.

The Bomber baseball team put two players on the All-RRC first team, one on the second and had two more named honorable mention after tying Carlisle for third in the conference with a 10-6 mark. Ballard went 21-11 overall and qualified for state for the first time since 1989.

Senior shortstop and pitcher Jaden Peasley and junior pitcher and outfielder Eli Rouse were the two Bombers named to the All-RRC first team in baseball. The rest of the first team was comprised of Adel-Desoto-Minburn's Luke Greth, Sam Holloway, Grant Rychnovsky, Rhylan Stine-Smith and Grant Jansen; Bondurant-Farrar's Jacob Roberts and Drew Peltz, Carlisle's Joe Goodhue and Ryan Petersen, Gilbert's Eli Eldred and North Polk's Hunter Cook, Reece Wrage, Isaac Zoske and Nick Cox.

Peasley was 3-1 with a 1.83 ERA and 27 strikeouts against 11 walks in 30 2/3 innings during conference play. He also hit .327 with four doubles, one triple, two homers, 14 runs and eight RBIs.

Rouse went 3-3 with a 2.19 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 12 walks in 32 innings against conference foes. He posted a .452 average with seven doubles, two homers, 18 runs, 14 steals and seven RBIs.

Sophomore pitcher Miles Mudd made the All-RRC second team in baseball. The other second-team selections were Boone's Luke Moore and Jake Hightshoe, Bondurant-Farrar's Hudson McIntosh, Cole Miller and Reed Pfaltzgraff; Carlisle's Trey Lee and Tyler Deal, Carroll's Chase Ragaller, Gilbert's Alec Bell and Tommy McGuire, North Polk's Austin Parkins, Tyler Sullivan, Ethan Sanger and Cooper Spurgeon and Winterset's Bryce Buckalew.

Mudd posted a 1-1 record with a 2.10 ERA, 25 strikeouts and just three walks in 20 innings for Ballard in conference play. He hit .233 with four doubles, four runs and three RBIs.

Sophomores Jacob Luster and Nicholas Schonhorst were the two Ballard players named honorable mention.

Luster tallied a .294 average with one double, seven runs and RBIs in conference games. Schonhorst hit .275 with three doubles, nine runs and five RBIs.

The Ballard softball team had one player make the first team, another land on the second and three named honorable mention on the All-RRC softball teams.

Junior pitcher Brooklyn Baumgardner was a unanimous choice on the All-RRC softball first team. The other first-team softball selections were ADM's Addison Banse and Laura Hagedorn, Bondurant-Farrar's Jackie Bass, Boone's Erin Ades, Carlisle's Addesyn Abel, Lauren McGriff and Reagan Roling, Carroll's Parker Adams, Gilbert's Katie Sniezek, North Polk's Elyse Engebretson, Ava Husak, Ella Husak and Lucy Lucas and Winterset's Neela Applegate and Molly Breeding.

Hagedorn, Ades, Abel, Roling, Sniezek, Applegate and the Husak sisters all joined Baumgardner as unanimous selections.

Baumgardner went 6-10 with a 3.27 ERA, 86 strikeouts and 32 walks in 102 2/3 innings against the best conference in Class 4A. She also hit .314 with two doubles, three runs and four RBIs.

Ballard senior catcher Sam Vetter made the All-RRC second team. She was joined by ADM's Cameran Smith and Madi James, Boone's Sydney Adams and Natalee Danner, Bondurant-Farrar's Myah Elliott, Carlisle's Amber Dougherty, Kaliyah Freeman and Riley Sievers; Carroll's Kloee Jones, Gilbert's Tovaria Smith and Zoey Jones, North Polk's Tessa Dillinger and Katelyn Klever and Winterset's Bailey Acton and Avery Darling.

Vetter posted a .333 average with three doubles, five runs and two RBIs in RRC games. She also threw out three base runners and only had three errors in 96 chances defensively behind the plate.

Freshman infielder Jada Lande, senior outfielder Kasey Larson and eighth-grade infielder/outfielder Madeline Schonhorst were the three Ballard players named honorable mention.

Lande hit .390 with five doubles, eight runs and three RBIs in RRC games. Larson posted a .269 average with three doubles and six runs and RBIs apiece and Schonhorst hit .327 with three doubles, one homer, eight runs, seven steals and three RBIs.

Final RRC baseball standings

North Polk 15-1

ADM 12-4

Ballard 10-6

Carlisle 10-6

Gilbert 9-7

Bondurant-Farrar 8-8

Boone 5-11

Carroll 3-13

Winterset 0-16

Final RRC softball standings

North Polk 15-1

Carlisle 14-2

ADM 11-5

Winterset 9-7

Bondurant-Farrar 7-9

Gilbert 6-10

Ballard 6-10

Boone 4-12

Carroll 0-16

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ballard totals 10 All-RRC selections in baseball and softball